Time is of the Essence
by frustrated.orange
Summary: Introducing the one and only Avery Ashford, a shy and conflicted young teen that always seemed to be putting a barrier between him and the world. For years he had drifted through life with too much time on his hands. Sadly, he seems to be finally running out of it. Enter Gravity Falls, the place he has been sent to spend whatever time he has left. [My first fic :)]
1. The Curtains Open

A/N: My first fanfic! The first chapter is REALLY REALLY boring. Really. It gets less sad (Probably). Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes, it will get better. Sometime.

Introducing the one and only Avery Ashford, a shy and conflicted young teen that always seemed to be putting a barrier between him and the world. For years he had drifted through life with too much time on his hands. Sadly, he seems to be finally running out of it. Enter Gravity Falls, the place he has been sent to spend whatever time he has left.

Whenever he walked into the room, you would know, for the air would grow still and the noise would die down. It's not as if he was popular or well-liked, in fact he was anything but. Nor was it that he had a powerful personality, for in general he was quite quiet and could be easily spooked. The reason that Avery Ashford could silence a room without trying was his disease. Although it had nothing to do with him, it also had everything to do with him.

In reality he was just a quiet, reserved soul with above average intelligence and a slightly negative look on life. Although, in his mind it was not negative but instead logical. He dislikes being treated with too much kindness for he feels as if he should be able to pull his own weight. Avery is not athletic because of his disease. He also sometimes excuses his quietness for being too worried about an episode. Despite his strongest and truest desires, the disease always loomed over him, making all of his decisions and keeping him quiet.

They called it "Acute Severe Asthma" and he called it "Impending Death", for he could see it in their eyes when they looked at him. A look of sadness, no, _pity_. Avery had survived much longer than he should have, and everyone felt as if he could drop dead on the spot. That wasn't very realistic, but it was still well-known that his end was coming soon. The worst part was that somehow everyone knew his fate and treated him like a bomb about to go off.

Well, that and the fact that the city he had previously lived in was the cause of his disease. Pollution had been bad for years, but when he was born it was at an all-time low. Sometimes the sky was black with smog and smoke on bad days, and there was always a rancid smell lurking around every corner. After years of telling themselves that Avery's disease will just blow over, his parents finally realized that maybe some action should be taken. Sadly, they were too late and any chance of recovering had drifted past his reach.

Seeing that he had little time left, Avery's parents decided to send him to the quiet country town known as Gravity Falls, Oregon so he may live out the rest of his days without the constant pollution of the city. Not one to state his opinion, he kept quiet and followed along with the switch in scenery.

Packing didn't take very long, for all he brought was clothes, books, and a small sealed letter from his parents labeled "For When You Are Ready to Come Back". He didn't bother to think about it for now. His parents did most of the work for him, for they felt honestly horrible for ignoring him. During the whole time, Avery either looked out the window at the sky silently or simply slept.

His mother and father's kindness was the only kindness he would accept without doing something in return, for even though it was against his morals he somehow felt that he deserved it. It wasn't like they had abused him or anything, in fact they were quite loving, but still they seemed to brush off his sickness like it was nothing. Would he miss them? He wasn't sure, but there was little that he was sure of at this point.

Still, he said his goodbyes and set off into the countryside. Little did he know that as soon as he stepped onto that train he became entangled in a plot larger than himself, no, larger than the entire town of Gravity Falls.


	2. The Winding Road

A/N: See! This chapter's a _little_ better!

It was early morning when he finally got on the train, the sky covered completely in a blanket of grey. Avery seated himself down in a small booth, his small luggage seated next to him haphazardly. Few other passengers dotted the car, so he took the luxury of using any free space to his advantage and weakly tossed the bags off to the side of him.

His mind was elsewhere when they departed from the station. What would the town he was going to be like? Would it be boring? Would it be nothing out of the ordinary? Or maybe it would be a place like no other, with beautiful sites and well-kept buildings. He didn't know, and slowly started to drift off into sleep when he decided that he should just roll with whatever punches are thrown in his direction. After all, what did it matter in the long run?

It was some time before the train hit a bump and jolted Avery awake. His eyes flickered open and he let out a wheeze or two out of shock. The scenery had drastically changed, the crowded and polluted city had faded out into a mysterious and free collection of rolling hill and trees. It made him look on in awe for a good couple minutes. His dry, dusty cough had yet to come to him yet which he took as a pretty good sign.

However, in his daydreaming and distraction he nearly missed the movement of something large in the trees. As soon as he saw it, it was already too late to get a good idea of what caused the movement, but if there was one thing for sure, it was certainly not caused by something man-made. There were no buildings for miles, and it was too big to be from a lost human in the woods or a car. Even if it was something like the cranes he often saw in the city, it would be too big and poke out of the treetops. Not that the people of the country could get a crane, anyway. His mother had told him to expect the worst when it came to technology out here.

With all that said, he was sure that it had to be something interesting. A giant sasquatch or crazy lizard monster causing a stir just like in his favorite novels. He now was ready to find out what sort of thing he had just encountered, but stopped himself when he realized that it had already passed by in the train window and no longer was able to be seen. Avery nodded off to sleep, upset that he would not be able to find his mystery monster.

It was probably five minutes before he was woken by immense shaking, a tremor that was not unlike thunder that shook through his bones. Avery gingerly leaned up against the window and his eyes widened as soon as he saw what was causing the noise. Following the train's winding tracks was a gigantic… Gnome? No, it was a collection of small garden gnomes in the shape of a larger garden gnome.

Were his eyes deceiving him? Was he still asleep? Was he going crazy? All of these options were quickly exhausted when a hand tapped his shoulder, causing him to nervously look over. "S-Sir? Everything is alright, I assure you, but if you would be willing to move under your seat-" Without any hesitation, he carefully tucked himself under the leather chair. It was tight, but he didn't mind seeing as he could possibly be crushed by the strange gnome creature.

Avery began to breathe a bit heavier, but was still far from having an episode. His heart now raced as the crashing and shaking of the monster drew nearer. What was going on? Nervous whimpers and screams from other passengers only added to his anxiety. Why was this happening to him? Why right now? He was interrupted from his thoughts as the hand of the giant gnome crashed into the car. The teen whimpered and crumpled up into an even tighter ball.

Suddenly, all calamity seemed to halt.

He peeked out from under his seat and saw a young girl and boy, around his age, holding leaf-blowers. Somehow he could tell this was going to be a weird trip already.


End file.
